Tunisia closes borders with Libya after violence

Tunisian police stand guard in front of Egyptians fleeing the violence in Libya at the southern Tunisian border crossing of Ras Jedir. Tunisia can't cope with a massive influx of refugees.

Tunisian police stand guard in front of Egyptians fleeing the...

RAS AJDIR, Tunisia — This country closed its main border crossing with Libya on Friday after thousands of stranded Egyptian and foreign nationals, fleeing militias' fighting and violence in Libya, tried to break through the passage, the Tunisian news agency said.

It was the second eruption of unrest at the border in as many days, as thousands of Libyans stream into neighboring Tunisia, along with foreign nationals.

Tunisia is the only escape route as fighting escalates in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, where rival militias have been battling for weeks for control over the airport.

Friday's unrest took place when thousands of Egyptians, barred from entering Tunisia because they had no visa, held a protest then broke through part of a fence at the Ras Ajdir crossing, Tunisian security officials said.

A reporter at the crossing said no one managed to make it to the other side and security forces used vehicles to physically block access.

After a Tunisian police officer was wounded by gunfire from the Libyan side of the border, authorities closed the crossing, the official Tunisian news agency TAP said.

A day earlier, two Egyptians were killed during a similar protest demanding to be let through.

Tunisian officials say thousands of Libyans have been crossing the border each day the past week.

Libya is witnessing its worst factional violence since the downfall of its longtime strongman, Col. Moammar Gadhafi, in 2011 civil war.

Along with the fighting in Tripoli, which the Health Ministry said has killed 214 people and wounding more than 980 others, Islamic militias the past week overran army bases in Libya's second-largest city, Benghazi, and claimed control of the city.

In a sign of a backlash, thousands of residents of Tripoli and Benghazi rallied Friday evening in protests against militias. They waved Libyan tricolor flags while clapping and chanting against militias.

“I am out today to protest against the terrorists and for the sake of this city and its sons,” said Mohammed Makhlouf, a Benghazi-based movie director.

A fighter jet flew overhead in a show of support for the protesters, where women had a strong presence. Protesters tore down posters of an Islamist lawmaker.

On his Facebook page, Abdel-Moneim al-Yassir, a lawmaker in the outgoing parliament and head of its National Security Committee, called for a “popular uprising to rescue Libya” and work out the disarming and demobilizing of militias.